Being active when living within a large body: experiences during lifestyle intervention

Bente Skovsby Toft; Kathleen T Galvin; Claus Vinther  Nielsen; Lisbeth  Uhrenfeldt

doi:10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769

Being active when living within a large body: experiences during lifestyle intervention

Bente Skovsby Toft, Kathleen T Galvin, Claus Vinther Nielsen, Lisbeth Uhrenfeldt

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: In-depth understanding of the experiences of both well-being and suffering in relation to being severely obese and becoming active through lifestyle intervention is lacking.

Aim: to explore and describe adults’ existential experiences of being active, when living within a large body—before and during a lifestyle intervention.

Methods: A longitudinal design of repeated individual interviews with 16 adults with BMI ≥40, based on hermeneutic phenomenology, existential philosophy and a theory of well-being was performed. The study was approved by the Danish health authorities.

Results: Two dimensions of experiences were found; “Living within a downward spiral” and “Striving for enjoyment and settlement”. The themes describing suffering were: ‘Sense of being thwarted and defeated ‘ and “Tackling energy depletion and impact of sense of self”. The themes describing well-being were: “Hoping for renewal and energised resoluteness” and “Enduring discomfort and feeling safe”.

Conclusions: Interacting existential experiences can be facilitators or barriers for physical activity. It seems relevant for health care providers to address the individual’s lifeworld experiences of well-being, lack of well-being and suffering. Well-being as a sense of feeling “at home” when physically active may break down an inactivity spiral. Promoting well-being is a legitimate aim of lifestyle intervention.

Original language	English
Article number	1736769
Journal	International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769
Publication status	Published - 10 Mar 2020

Bibliographical note

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords

Adults
experience
hermeneutics
life style
lifeworld
obesity
physical activity
qualitative study
well-being

Access to Document

10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769Licence: CC BY

Being active when living within a large body experiences during lifestyle interventionFinal published version, 1.4 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{864c881c00564e369c8af1c36854ed2f,

title = "Being active when living within a large body: experiences during lifestyle intervention",

abstract = "Background: In-depth understanding of the experiences of both well-being and suffering in relation to being severely obese and becoming active through lifestyle intervention is lacking.Aim: to explore and describe adults{\textquoteright} existential experiences of being active, when living within a large body—before and during a lifestyle intervention.Methods: A longitudinal design of repeated individual interviews with 16 adults with BMI ≥40, based on hermeneutic phenomenology, existential philosophy and a theory of well-being was performed. The study was approved by the Danish health authorities.Results: Two dimensions of experiences were found; “Living within a downward spiral” and “Striving for enjoyment and settlement”. The themes describing suffering were: {\textquoteleft}Sense of being thwarted and defeated {\textquoteleft} and “Tackling energy depletion and impact of sense of self”. The themes describing well-being were: “Hoping for renewal and energised resoluteness” and “Enduring discomfort and feeling safe”.Conclusions: Interacting existential experiences can be facilitators or barriers for physical activity. It seems relevant for health care providers to address the individual{\textquoteright}s lifeworld experiences of well-being, lack of well-being and suffering. Well-being as a sense of feeling “at home” when physically active may break down an inactivity spiral. Promoting well-being is a legitimate aim of lifestyle intervention.",

keywords = "Adults, experience, hermeneutics, life style, lifeworld, obesity, physical activity, qualitative study, well-being",

author = "Toft, {Bente Skovsby} and Galvin, {Kathleen T} and Nielsen, {Claus Vinther} and Lisbeth Uhrenfeldt",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.",

year = "2020",

month = mar,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769",

language = "English",

volume = "15",

journal = "International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being",

issn = "1748-2623",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Being active when living within a large body

T2 - experiences during lifestyle intervention

AU - Toft, Bente Skovsby

AU - Galvin, Kathleen T

AU - Nielsen, Claus Vinther

AU - Uhrenfeldt, Lisbeth

N1 - © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

PY - 2020/3/10

Y1 - 2020/3/10

N2 - Background: In-depth understanding of the experiences of both well-being and suffering in relation to being severely obese and becoming active through lifestyle intervention is lacking.Aim: to explore and describe adults’ existential experiences of being active, when living within a large body—before and during a lifestyle intervention.Methods: A longitudinal design of repeated individual interviews with 16 adults with BMI ≥40, based on hermeneutic phenomenology, existential philosophy and a theory of well-being was performed. The study was approved by the Danish health authorities.Results: Two dimensions of experiences were found; “Living within a downward spiral” and “Striving for enjoyment and settlement”. The themes describing suffering were: ‘Sense of being thwarted and defeated ‘ and “Tackling energy depletion and impact of sense of self”. The themes describing well-being were: “Hoping for renewal and energised resoluteness” and “Enduring discomfort and feeling safe”.Conclusions: Interacting existential experiences can be facilitators or barriers for physical activity. It seems relevant for health care providers to address the individual’s lifeworld experiences of well-being, lack of well-being and suffering. Well-being as a sense of feeling “at home” when physically active may break down an inactivity spiral. Promoting well-being is a legitimate aim of lifestyle intervention.

AB - Background: In-depth understanding of the experiences of both well-being and suffering in relation to being severely obese and becoming active through lifestyle intervention is lacking.Aim: to explore and describe adults’ existential experiences of being active, when living within a large body—before and during a lifestyle intervention.Methods: A longitudinal design of repeated individual interviews with 16 adults with BMI ≥40, based on hermeneutic phenomenology, existential philosophy and a theory of well-being was performed. The study was approved by the Danish health authorities.Results: Two dimensions of experiences were found; “Living within a downward spiral” and “Striving for enjoyment and settlement”. The themes describing suffering were: ‘Sense of being thwarted and defeated ‘ and “Tackling energy depletion and impact of sense of self”. The themes describing well-being were: “Hoping for renewal and energised resoluteness” and “Enduring discomfort and feeling safe”.Conclusions: Interacting existential experiences can be facilitators or barriers for physical activity. It seems relevant for health care providers to address the individual’s lifeworld experiences of well-being, lack of well-being and suffering. Well-being as a sense of feeling “at home” when physically active may break down an inactivity spiral. Promoting well-being is a legitimate aim of lifestyle intervention.

KW - Adults

KW - experience

KW - hermeneutics

KW - life style

KW - lifeworld

KW - obesity

KW - physical activity

KW - qualitative study

KW - well-being

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081544742&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769

DO - 10.1080/17482631.2020.1736769

M3 - Article

SN - 1748-2623

VL - 15

JO - International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being

JF - International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being

IS - 1

M1 - 1736769

ER -

Being active when living within a large body: experiences during lifestyle intervention

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Kathleen Galvin

Cite this

Being active when living within a large body: experiences during lifestyle intervention

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Profiles

Kathleen Galvin

Cite this